Kenneth La
Kenneth "Kenny" La '''(Born January 12, 1975) is a retired American Mixed Martial Artist and former Dominant Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight Champion. La has an extensive background behind Muay Thai holding a black belt from Sam Smith. La is also an experienced grappler, holding a black belt in Brazilian Ju Jitsu under instructor LeBron Bryant as well as being a former collegiate wrestler. La holds the record for most knockouts in DFC history (18). La is widely credited for helping expose mixed martial arts to the media helping it become a more known sports entertainment. On August 14th, 2014, La became the first Asian-American inducted into the DFC Hall of Fame. '''Early Life La was born in Long Beach, California where he lived with two sisters and was raised by a single mother and uncle, who taught La boxing at an early age. La is of Vietnamese descent. Liddell began learning Muay Thai at the age of 11. During his high school years, La was a four-year starting Quarterback for Santa Jose High School, leading them to four division championship wins. La also excelled at wrestling where he later became a Division 1 wrestler for San Jose City University La also graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business/Marketing in 2001. While growing up in Long Beach, La worked as a bartender through college in order to pay for his mixed martial arts classes. La also had a troublesome childhood as he was involved in many fights due to bullying during high school. La holds an amateur muay thai record of 33 wins 0 losses and 24 wins by way of knockout. Dominant Fighting Career ''' After being successful in smaller organizations, La came into the DFC undefeated holding knockout victories over Floyd Juneweather as well as Guy Buddy. After 5 straight victories via Knockout, La was granted a title shot against fan-favorited DFC Light Heavyweight Champion "Dirty" Dan Steele. During their bout on January 12th, 2000 which happened to be La's birthdayk La shocked the world, knocking out Steele at 4:59 of the very first round by slamming him onto the ground thus, becoming the new as well as youngest DFC Light Heavyweight Champion at the age of 25. '''Rise to fame and Continued Success La then went on to defend his title, earning knockout victories over Trent Johnson, Vitor Silva, Tom Tebow and Tito Shamrock. Being an undefeated champion led La to headline multiple PPVs as well as setting the record for DFC PPV sales at DFC100 on August 29th, 2009 when he successfully defend his title twice in one night. La would continue on to dominate and defend his title for the next decade earning multiple "knockout of the day" Bonuses. Known for his charisma on the mic when trash talking his opponents, La began to have opportunities with the media, making cameos on TV shows as well as commentating for Professional wrestling events. Title Loss and Decline in Career During his title defense against Kirk Uncle on DFC 117, La was knocked out during the 3rd round by a head kick. Afterwards La reportedly could not see for 13 hours. Many believe after this fight La was never the same La went on to lose the next 3 out of his 5 bouts by knockout. His last fight was on DFC 135 against Jerry West where he lost after getting knocked out by a punch late in the 2nd round. After the fight, La announced his retirement from fighting in order to spend more time with his family and newborn child. Post DFC career La would begin making more cameos in TV shows as well as staring in films. La went on to become a commentator for DFC. La spends his free time with his wife and kids as well as teaching martial arts at his Gym in Long Beach, La Fight Club. Ron ThanCategory:People